Recommended Reading: Perennials
Must-read books for the perennial gardener.
Must-read books for the perennial gardener:
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden—the classic reference that tells you all you need to know to plan, plant and maintain your perennial beds and borders. The expanded edition includes more photos plus a 32-page journal section in which you can record your own notes. Countless gardeners have turned to this book by Tracy DiSabato-Aust for advice and inspiration. It will not let you down.
The Flower Gardener's Bible—this is a great book because it covers routine perennial maintenance and other garden tasks throughout the year, provides descriptions and images of many excellent plants, and includes a thick chapter on specific kinds of gardens and the plants that best suit them (e.g., rock garden, hillside garden, water garden, shaded garden, etc.) Each garden type is illustrated and its unique challenges and considerations are described. The authors, Nancy and Lewis Hill, are veteran gardeners from Vermont, making this an especially good reference for northern gardeners.
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens All-Region Gardening Guides are delightful little books, carefully researched, written and illustrated and quite affordably priced at around $10. Perennial gardeners should be sure to read The Sunny Border and The Shady Border. Each book includes design and maintenance advice as well as a thick "encyclopedia" section of recommended plants for gardens across North America.
The Perennial Care Manual: A Plant-by-Plant Guide: What to Do & When to Do It—the title says it all! It's advice you can trust, coming from expert gardener Nancy Ondra, who is based in Pennsylvania. Gorgeous images by noted garden photographer Rob Cardillo complement the instructive but accessible text.
